It's Hard To Be In Love With Your Rival
by FanfictionForDayz
Summary: Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz have been rivals ever since they were little. Star, growing up as a fun loving yet reckless princess, didn't get along well when she first met the careful and responsible Marco Diaz, the son of a local blacksmith in Mewni. As they grow older however, they realize that their rivalry, isn't all as it appears to be.
1. Chapter 1: Meet Star Butterfly

**Author's Notes: Hey guys here's the AU I promised I would start. Hopefully you guys will enjoy the journey I'll bring you on with this one.**

 **Enjoy the fic!**

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"Wheee!" 7 year old princess Star Butterfly shouted with glee as she slid down the castle stairs.

"Star honey no don't do that!"

She took a glance behind her as she was sliding to see her terrified parents, the king and queen, chasing after her waving their arms wildly. They were very much afraid for the trouble she could cause if she managed to continue to run wildly around the castle.

And with good reason.

See, Star wasn't just your average, stereotypical princess that dedicated their whole lives into learning how to be polite and proper. No, Star was born a very mischievous girl. She was always getting into trouble wherever she went, much to the dismay of her parents who tried everything they could to turn their daughter into an ideal princess. They had long since accepted the fact that she was just naturally energetic and eager for adventure and still cared for their daughter. However, that didn't mean they weren't going to teach her any manners!

Star giggled at the sight of her panicking parents. She thought the look on their faces when they chased her was pretty funny.

She turned her head back in front of her as her feet collided with the last step of the stairs. She quickly darted through a nearby, random hallway in order to escape from her parents.

 _Easy_ she giggled to herself as she looked over her shoulder to see her parents at the opposite end of the hallway, fatigue starting to consume them from giving chase.

She smiled to herself. She loved the little game of cat-and-mouse she had created and played with her parents. She was now pretty good at dodging their attempts at catching her, as she was fairly smart about the routes the guards would take around the castle and avoided them.

She looked at a nearby clock she passed by. _9 minutes!_ she thought to herself. _That's a new record!_

Deciding that she wanted to push for an even longer record, she turned the corner and looked for another way to escape. She spotted a door nearby that led to a kitchen. According to her knowledge, there was no one supposed to be cooking at that time in there and also there was another door in that room that led to another labyrinth of hallways.

 _Perfect_ she thought as she headed for the door.

"STAR! COME BACK THIS INSTANT!" she heard her mother call to her.

 _Uh oh_ Star thought. _Better hurry up!_

With this thought, she burst open the door and darted inside. Unfortunately, she ran straight into one of the castle's servants who was holding a massive pot of soup, enough for a few families to feast on. Star had forgotten in the thrill of the chase that today, her parents had planned to teach her proper posture and etiquette for eating, in case any other royal families from a neighboring dimension decided to visit one day.

"Ah!" yelled the servant as the princess collided with him. He stumbled backwards for a few seconds trying to maintain his balance, but to no avail. He tripped backwards resulting in the pot flying right out of his hands and slammed into the head of another servant, who was working a magical stove. One thing led to another and soon, a fire was erupting from inside the kitchen. The kitchen servants all ran out screaming as Star stood outside the door, looking downcast at the mess she made. She didn't mean to cause any trouble to anyone, she just wanted to have a little fun! Despite that, no one could deny the fact her recklessness was something to behold. Most of the time, her daring, adventurous activities always ended up with her causing trouble.

 _Tap tap tap_ Star heard from behind her. She slowly turned her body behind her to see her mother and father looking down at her with crossed arms. She gulped. Now she was in for it.

Star's mother pulled out the royal magic wand and aimed it the burning kitchen. After muttering a few words, a blue mist came out of the wand and seemingly absorbed the fire. Star's eyes looked in awe of the magic before her. The royal magic wand was an object of great power and wonder. It was passed down generation after generation to the next heir of Mewni. Soon, when she grew up, it would be hers.

As the fire was extinguished, Star shook out of her daze and looked at her mother shamefully. Star's mother gave her a disapproving look as she crossed her arms.

"Star what have we said about doing this kind of thing?" she sternly scolded her.

Star pouted. "But mom-"

"No buts!" Star's mom shouted. "All of these little games of yours are causing havoc wherever they go!"

Star bit her lip. As much as she didn't want to admit it, her mom was right. "I'm sorry," she apologized to her parents.

Seeing the sad and remorseful expression on her face, her parents softened. They were very strict, but they indeed loved their daughter.

"Star," her father said bending down and putting a hand on her shoulder. "One day, all these little adventures you go on may hurt you one day," he lectured her.

Star nodded in understanding. She knew her parents were scared for her safety, but her thirst for fun was unquenchable. It was just the way she was.

Her father sighed and stood up. "Well we have to set back the time for the lesson I suppose. Star why don't you run along to your room and play for a little while?"

Star looked up at her parents with big pleading eyes. "Can I go and play outside?" Star begged her parents.

The queen shook her head. "No you cannot! There are many people who would want to capture you my dear and we cannot take that risk!"

Star's expression became downcast as she hung her head. Seeing her like this, the king turned to his wife.

"Erm, dear, maybe we should let her outside just for a little while. We can take some of the royal guards with her to make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble," the king said. He knew that one day, she would need experience going out into the world, as the king and queen were required to do it on a daily basis.

The queen looked at him unsure. "I don't know..." she said hesitantly.

Star looked at her with her big, round eyes and tugged on her dress. "Please please please mom?! I never get to go outside!"

The queen looked down at her daughter and sighed. "Oh, alright," she gave permission. Star let out a cheer of victory and danced in a circle.

"-But make sure to take the royal guards with her!" she commanded. Star frowned slightly. She didn't want to be babysat but it was the best she was probably going to get today. She was already lucky she wasn't lectured for hours in her room after setting a kitchen on fire.

With this in mind, Star skipped joyfully down the hallway to prepared to leave the castle.

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 **Author's Notes: Well there's the first chapter! I'll be able to update the next few chapters of this fairly frequently but I also want to post another story I wrote a while ago that is pretty much done. It's a short story but I think the idea is interesting. After all that I'll be making another one shot and posting the next chapter for Until You Realize. Until then see you guys later!**


	2. Chapter 2: Meet Marco Diaz

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! Well I definitely did not write nearly enough last chapter so hopefully this one will make up for it. Hopefully you can find something entertaining in this one! Enjoy the fic!**

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7 year old Marco Diaz grunted in exhaustion as he carried the heavy water buckets in the hot, sunny day. He was currently returning from the village well to haul the water back to his hard working parents who were a pair of blacksmiths in the area.

Marco Diaz did not have an easy life.

Though having a decent occupation and having more income than a beggar would, they weren't paid very well. Marco loved his parents dearly, but even he had to admit that the things they crafted weren't up to par with other blacksmiths. His parents just weren't good enough at their job. Sure, some of the poorer people would occasionally stop by to pick up a sword or shield for a low price, but no high ranking officials ever requested any items from them. This forced Marco at a very young age to start to do much of the other laborious things like running errands for his parents.

"Ah!" Marco yelled as he felt someone roughly shove him down from behind. The buckets of water he had been carrying flew out of his hands and spilled all over the ground as he fell face first into the soft dirt. He got up and groaned in pain as he turned his head to see a group of kids laughing at him.

 _Them again_ Marco snarled. These kids constantly made fun of him because his parents weren't paid as well as their parents. They were always looking for a way to mess with him and make his life even harder.

"Oh sorry, did that hurt?" chuckled the leader, Oskar. "Maybe you should watch where you're going Diaz."

"Yeah! You never know who you might run into!" a girl named Britney taunted him from behind the group.

Furious. Marco stood up and came face to face with Oskar. The overwhelming urge to fight welled up inside him as his fist clenched together in anger. Oskar noticed this and smiled wickedly. He was getting what he wanted.

Marco almost gave in too until he saw the other boy's eyes jeering at him to make a move. And boy, did he want to show Oskar what he was getting into, but he realized that it was a trap and calmed himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before backing away and grabbing the empty buckets on the ground. His hard life forced him to become more mature than kids his age; he always focused on making the right decisions and to keep away from trouble.

Confused at Marco's sudden change in attitude, the group began insulting him and calling him a coward while he walked away from them.

"Loser!"

"Pigs have more use than you!"

"Coward!"

Marco grimaced at the things he was being called. Of course, he didn't believe they were true, but sometimes he began to wonder how his life ended up like this. Why exactly was it was his fault that his family was poor? What did he do to deserve this?

"Fine Diaz! Be that way! We're going to go see the princess, I hear she's coming out of the castle today! And don't even bother trying to make friends with her! She'll never want to be friends with you after she sees what a loser you are!" Oskar shouted at him before he and his group walked away.

Marco clenched his fist as he heard that last insult. _I wouldn't want to be friends with her anyway_ he fumed.

There was another important thing that should be known about Marco. He _hated_ the royal family. He figured they were to blame for all of his misfortunes, making all the peasants work for them, not caring what happens to anyone inside the kingdom they ruled other than their own well-being. His parents always made a point to lecture him about how the king and queen were good, but he just couldn't see it in that light.

The boy went off on the long road to refill the buckets. When he got to the well, he heard trumpets sound in the distance.

 _That must be the princess_ he thought as he filled the buckets up to the brim with water. Part of him was tempted to go over there and tell her off on how terrible she and the royal family were, but he knew that it wouldn't end well for him and it would just cause grief for his parents.

As he finished refilling the bucket, he trudged on towards his home to deliver the water. He knew his parents were probably worried why he had been out so long so he made it a point to make up a story like how he had tripped and spilled the water or something like that. He didn't want to burden his parents, who he knew were working very hard, with his own personal problems.

However, he thought this, he decided to take a special path to home. The path he took was kind of wooded and made it just a little bit longer to get to home. He liked taking that path because there was no one around to bother him. It was like his own personal haven that he could relax in, even though he was carrying such heavy buckets for a 7 year old boy.

He took a breath of fresh air and sighed in happiness. Walking here was when he was truly at peace.

That was when it happened.

Out of nowhere, he felt a body slam into him. "AH!" he yelled as he fell down in surprise as the buckets of water once again flew out of his hands and spilled water all over the trail.

He looked at the buckets of water in frustration. He thought that no one would be able to mess with him here, but apparently he was wrong. Now he had to go and refill the buckets of water _again_.

He turned his head behind him in fury expecting to see Oskar or someone else smiling triumphantly at his misfortune. He was definitely going to teach them a lesson for this.

"Why you little-", he started.

That was when he saw her. His eyes laid upon a very beautiful girl his age muttering in pain as she rubbed her head. He blinked a couple of times trying to register what he was seeing. He didn't recognize her from the group Oskar came with a while ago. Then he laid his eyes upon what she was wearing and that was when he realized it. She was dressed in a beautifully interwoven, expensive looking dress and had a tiara laid on top of her head. There were even hearts imprinted on her cheeks, a symbol that she was of the royal family. His demeanor suddenly became very hostile as he looked at her. She was one of the reasons he thought his life was so miserable. She was the one Oskar and his group mentioned to him. Here, was the princess of Mewni.

"Owie," she said as she rubbed her head. She opened her eyes to see Marco looking directly at her, a mixture of surprise, confusion, and what she believed to be rage.

"Who are you?" Star Butterfly asked Marco Diaz.

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 **Author's Notes: WHO IS HYPED FOR THE SEASON FINALE! I KNOW I AM! THE SYNOPSIS OF THE SEASON FINALE SCREAMS STARCO! Sadly, no season 2 until spring but that just gives even more time to write awesome fanfictions and replay season 1 moments! Well next update will either be this one, or until you realize. I really want to update all the stories I can but I can only write so much. I also want to write another one shot so expect that soon. Well anyways, I'll see you guys later!**


	3. Chapter 3: Fateful Encounter

**Author's Notes: *Rises from the grave* SO DID ANYONE SEE THAT BEASTLY FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON 2? MAN I KNEW WE WERE GOING TO GET SOME STARCO HINTS LATER IN THE SERIES BUT DISNEY DIDN'T HOLD BACK THEIR PUNCHES THIS TIME! FIRST EPISODE AND ALREADY SOME MAJOR HINTS! "Thoughts on Marco"? OH CMON STAR, WE ALLLLL KNOW WHY YOU REALLY DON'T WANT HIM READING THAT! *cough* crush *cough***

 **Well anyways, now that my Starco train has been refueled by this new episode, take this chapter of this story that I hadn't updated since the Season 1 finale. I mean, it would be a crime to leave fan fictions unfinished wouldn't it? *Looks at all the unfinished Starco** **fan fictions* *weeps*. Also I am now mega binging on fan fictions on this website. Currently on page 9 on all the fan fictions. I am prepared to read all those Starco filled chapters posted by the people on this website. (It's going to be a good day.)**

 **Anyways, Enjoy the fic!**

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"Make way for the princess of Mewni, Star Butterfly!"

Trumpets rang through the air as the gates of Mewni opened grandly. At the entrance stood little Star Butterfly with a big smile on her face surrounded by the Mewnian Royal Guard.

"Yay!" she squealed as she hopped along down the main trail of the kingdom. The guards followed by closely.

She took a look to her left and right and saw that people were kneeling in front of her presence as she walked down the trail. Star frowned slightly.

Honestly, this kind of respect always made her feel a little, awkward.

All her life, everyone had been nice and respectful to her. Which wasn't real a problem but it made everyone in her eyes seem so, so fake. Like this one time when she accidentally broke a commoner's very expensive looking sword. That particular commoner was known to start fights with other villagers close by, so naturally, Star was really frightened back then. She expected anger or a scolding or _something_ to show her that she was in the wrong.

But the commoner just took his stuff and walked away. Instead of being scolded by the commoner, she was scolded by her parents after they gave the commoner compensation for his sword. Of course, she expected a scolding from her parents, but what about the commoner? Wouldn't the usual reaction be anger? Or did that just not exist in her world?

The only people who had ever been somewhat commanding of her were her parents, but everyone else never complained once in front of her no matter how bad she was.

As she continued trudging down the path. Star caught sight of a group of children who were kneeling and had plastic smiles plastered onto them, as if they believed smiling at her would bring them great fortune.

"Hi princess," a boy from the group named Oskar said. He held up a small ball. "Want to play catch with us?"

Star cringed. She always had a bad feeling for some reason about that particular group of kids that would always go up to her.

"Um, maybe later," she replied hastily before scurrying faster down the road with the royal guard following close by.

She sighed inwardly. Everyone around her felt fake excluding her parents. The only way she really had fun was going on solo adventures that her parents usually didn't permit.

She glanced behind her to see the royal guard still following her. She needed to get away from them to start going on her misadventures by herself. She saw a chance when she saw the street they were about to approach. There, at that particular street, was a little hidden escape route that only she knew of. Behind all the merchants was a bush that held a secret entrance to the passageway was a small opening in the ground but it did not open unless someone knew the password. She didn't know where it had come from but she did know the password after accidentally saying it while hiding behind that bush.

In an instant, Star broke into a frenzied run (she was an oddly fast runner for a 7 year old) and took a turn at the end of the street. When Star broke out into a run out of nowhere, the royal guards were stunned and confused for a moment. In a flash, though, they regathered themselves and sprinted on after her.

Star had no time to look back and quickly scanned the area for the bush. _Ah ha!_ she thought when she spotted the all too familiar bush behind one of the merchants. She quickly dove into the bush and whispered the secret password.

"Season Two," she whispered.

In an instant, the ground opened up and swallowed her whole. And as quick as it opened up, the entrance closed, looking like nothing had ever happened. The guards were confused when they arrived at the bush to see that there was no magical princess to be found at the area.

"Whee!" Star shouted as she slid down the metal slide that was implanted in her little secret route. Star knew exactly where the tunnel lead to. There was a hidden, confined pathway that this passage led to. It was nice and peaceful and somedays she would just prance around that path like it was nobodies business. There, she would be able to search for misadventures to do in her free time.

She slipped and slid down the metal slide until the slide lead to a rather large log looking part. She was shot out of the log and flew towards the path.

Only one problem, there was someone there.

Before Star had really any time to react, she had crash-landed right into the person causing both of them to be thrown backwards onto the dirt floor.

"Owie," Star exclaimed as she slowly got up and rubbed her head. She opened her eyes to see that the person she landed on was a young boy about her age. He had brown, oddly well kept hair and big brown eyes. His clothes were rather dirty and had two spilled buckets of water laying beside him.

Naturally, at this odd scenario, Star blurted out the first thing that came into her little 7 year old mind.

"Who are you?"

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 **Author's notes: Ok what to expect now, you say? Basically more of this and more one shots soon (I have like 4 one shots that are almost finished but need some touching up). Thanks to everyone for all the reviews and comments and hope you guys are enjoying SVTFOE as much as I am! Peace out!**


	4. Chapter 4: Right and Wrong

**Author's Notes: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter. It shouldn't have taken me this long to write this but eh, what can you do? Also, I am hyped for that next episode. I can SMELL the Starco around the corner.**

 **Anyways, Enjoy the fic!**

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Marco was stunned for a moment, not being able to say anything as he was being plagued with conflicting feelings.

"Who are you?" the girl said.

Marco shook himself out of his daze and got up. There in front of him, was the princess of Mewni. One of the few people he blamed his problems on.

"None of your business," Marco said flatly. He decided that it was better to just ignore her before trouble followed. He made his way to the fallen buckets and picked them up.

Star was taken aback by the seemingly negative response. The one time a person answered back to her other than her parents and she didn't say anything wrong.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she exclaimed. Marco continued to ignore her and was hoping that she would just walk away. He to make his way back towards the well, a bucket in each hand.

At this gesture, Star grew annoyed. She didn't like being ignored and was really angry that the boy was being mean to her for no reason.

So instead of leaving him alone, Star promptly followed him.

"Hey! Why are you ignoring me? Do you know who I am?" she said poking his back. Marco held his ground and continued to walk.

She ran in front of him and crossed her arms. "I am the princess of mewni, Star butterfly!" she said smugly.

Marco simply sidestepped her and continued walking forward.

"Fine!" Star pouted. "I'll ignore you too! Then you'll be sorry!"

Star crossed her arms and held her tiny little head up high yet continued to follow Marco towards his destination. but after a full 10 seconds, Star piped up. "So how do you like being ignored huh?!"

Marco was growing more and more irritated by the second. Here he was trying to mind his own business and contain his anger and she was further provoking him. He twisted his head and glared at the girl.

"Can you _please_ stop follow me?" he said with the most sincerity he could muster at that moment in time.

Star shook her head aggressively. "Not until you tell me who you are and apologize for being mean!" she commanded.

At this, Marco threw the buckets he was holding on the ground and gave her an angry look.

"Alright, first of all, why should _I_ tell _you_ my name?! It's not like you're going to remember the name of some random commoner!"

Star was taken aback by the sudden burst of anger. No one had ever yelled at her like this.

"Second of all, you're the one that crashed into me! Because of you, I have to walk all the way back to the well to refill all these stupid buckets now! if anything, you should be the one apologizing!" Marco accused.

"OK FINE! I'M-"

"And lastly-" Marco packed back and forth continuing his ran. "-you and your family are the whole reason why everyone makes fun of me, I'm always having a hard time refilling these dumb buckets, and-"

"HEY!" Star interrupted him. "Don't start blaming your dumb problems on my family! I don't know what your deal is, but you're a MEANIE!"

Marco scowled. "Whatever! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

As Star was about to reply, they both heard footsteps and voices approaching from the forest. In an instant, the Royal Guard came tumbling out of the forest, gathering around Star and eying Marco like he was some sort of villain.

"Princess! Are you alright?" the head guard, Alberto, said.

He turned to eye Marco, who was completely stunned by the sudden appearance of the royal guard.

"You punk! What did you do to the princess?" he raged.

"I didn't do anything!" Marco defended himself. "I was just getting water from the well and-"

"Get out of here!" Alberto commanded.

"But-"

"I SAID NOW!" Alberto roared.

Marco felt a wave of pure frustration. He didn't do anything wrong and this was how he was treated.

Star popped her head out from behind one of the guard's legs. As she saw the distraught figure of the boy, she started to feel bad. Even though she didn't like his attitude, she felt like the bully in the scenario.

"Hey!" she called out to him. "What's your name?"

Marco turned his head to give the princess a disdainful look. "Marco Diaz," he said before turning and walking away.

After Marco had left, the guards relaxed. "Alright princess. No more fun and games. We have to report back to the castle," Alberto said.

"Um, yeah before that, I need to do something really quickly first."

"but princess, the King and Queen will be most upset if we don't get back right now!" Alberto replied.

"Oh c'mon! They can wait for a few extra minutes," Star said waving it off.

"I'm sorry princess, but you will have to do whatever it is you need to do some other time. For now, we will-"

"Oh fine," Star said pretending to give in. "Let's go back to the castle and tell mom and dad how you guys lost me while I was playing around."

In actuality, Star loved the royal guard members. They were her babysitters, teachers and great friends but she also felt guilty from what Marco had said. She wanted to show him that they weren't all bad. Besides, her parents know her well enough to know that it wasn't their fault. But the Royal Guard doesn't know that.

"... Will this thing that you will do be quick?" Alberto said.

"Yep!"

Alberto sighed. "Fine, but please be quick."

Star smiled. "Alberto get out a pen and pencil and write what I say please."

...

"I'm coming," Marco said tiredly as he heard someone knocking on his house's door.

It had been a wild and crazy day for him and he didn't want to put up with anymore unwanted people. He got made fun of by the other kids, the princess and her lame guards frustrated him, and in the end, he didn't even get the water like he originally intended. He had decided to lay off some steam by taking a nap, but then someone had started knocking on the door. So as to not bother his parents, he decided he would answer it.

Marco opened the door to find no one there. He looked down and, to his surprise, were 2 filled up buckets of water and a note attached to the side of one. At first, he looked at it suspiciously, poking it a few times to check that it wouldn't explode or something crazy. He took the note and read it aloud.

 _Dear grouchy potato face,_

 _I still don't like that you ignored me and all but here's your buckets back. You left them at the road and forgot to get your water. And because I am awesome, I decided to get you your water myself. Next time I see you though, you better be on your knees saying sorry or I'll ignore you again! -_ _Star Butterfly_

Marco bit his lip to suppress the insane laughter that was boiling up inside of him. _All of this work, FOR 2 BUCKETS OF WATER_ he thought crazily. He took a deep breath and settled down before bringing in the buckets of water.

 _She knocks my buckets down on the ground, forces me to go home empty handed, then comes back with a note and two buckets of water. Who does that?!_ he fumes to himself. _Next time I see her, I swear I'm going to give her a piece of my mind._

Even as he said that though, he was grateful for the buckets of water. He really didn't want to tell his mom and dad that he technically got into trouble with the royal family. He looked down and the two buckets and the frustration he had been feeling the whole day seemed to wash away.

 _I guess they could be nice once in a while_ he thought to himself before immediately brushing the thought away and walking towards where his parents were.

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 **Author's Notes: So this is the last chapter they are 7 years old. Next chapter is a time skip and then we can get into the real meat of the story. Although, I'm probably going to post more one shots first before that.**

 **Anyways, that's all for today. Hope you enjoyed and peace!**


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